Mexican sand painting a colorful feature of Seattle Center Day of the Dead celebration

It took one week, 46 100-pound bags of sand and a lot of careful stepping, but local artist Isaac Hernandez’s sand painting is ready for this weekend’s Mexican Day of the Dead celebration at Seattle Center.

Hernandez, who designed an altar to accompany the “Celebration of Souls: Day of the Dead in Southern Mexico” exhibition in Seattle last year, has for five years designed a different sand painting for Seattle Center’s Day of the Dead celebration.

This year’s version is 26 feet in diameter and depicts icons such as a sun, a jaguar, a serpent and other symbols that represent the history of Mexico and its native culture’s celebration — not lament — of death.

Hernandez, who speaks only a little English, said he’s seen many Seattle Center visitors pause for several minutes to watch him and his associates sift and apply the fine grains of sand to the “tapete.”

To him, the holiday’s remembrance of the departed ties in closely with the contentious issue of Mexican immigration. It’s a day when Mexicans in the U.S. remember those close to them who have been deported to Mexico.

He hopes that, among other things, the quality and artistry of his work show non-Hispanic Seattleites that there are artists and professionals as well as blue-collar laborers among Seattle’s growing Mexican community.

He said his goal is to “enorgulleser a los paisanos y asombrar a los extranjeros” — make his people proud and enlighten the rest.

For more on the Seattle Center event, including information on other exhibits and activities, visit tallermexicano.org.